The Numbers Game

Sometimes, I sit back and wonder, if I am more than a mere statistic in the office. My manager continues to praise me for the number of calls I have closed, almost like a football commentator giving on the fly vital facts, of calls closed, opened, ratios and best performance of the day, week, month. This month has seen my most successfully to date, as these graph below, clearly demonstrates. [Larger version available over at FlickR]

I hate targets and performance related pay and anything associated with having to reach a certain point before you can even whisper that you have achieved anything. I cannot think of another job, that so much of the administration is done by the person who is also expected to come up with the majority of the answers. So you are drawn into a vicious circle whereby you continuously increase the workload, with the finish line nowhere in sight. Yet I must not grumble, at the turn of the year, there were some four hundred calls in the backlog and we were logging calls to a close ratio of over 8:1. Things have improved and we are constantly hitting the targets as placed upon us by senior management.

My competition, if I can be as harsh to label it so, previously was almost non-existent. When a young man has images of sandy beaches on his mind, he will never truly focus on work, and I was able to capitalise on this by consistently closing more calls than him. Now, with only twenty one days on his 'time served' sheet, I find myself coming up against someone who is up for some healthy rivalry.

To spice things up further, my Manager decided to offer some beer, to the member of the help desk team that closed the most number of calls on a given day this week. There was no doubt in my mind, that I was going to win. You were afterall, talking to the guy that had closed down eighteen calls in half a day, last Wednesday (in the absence of any major encouragement from my line manager.) Of course, I won, but not my any considerable margin (one call). This was a warning, that the days of sitting back and letting things just sort themselves out, in their own accord, were well and truly over. Perhaps, this is just what I needed, a fresh challenge. Someone who is going to fight, in the least confrontational way, for each phone call, PC install, PDA rebuild and voicemail return. I will not flounder.

As always, I will meet each upcoming trial with ambitious dedication. Sometimes I need to keep reminding myself that there are thousands of worse products I could be supporting. There are also millions more of dead end, meaningless jobs I could find myself in (contracting anyone?) I must learn to be more grateful for the hand I have dealt, rather than hoping the next deck will prove more worthwhile

Six Month's Graft

Today is a milestone in my career. Exactly six months ago, I started this new job, in unfamiliar surroundings, trying to get my head around the concept of a sales based industry. Those first few months, proved the most volatile, with personnel changes and a major learning curve to overcome. Now, looking back, I can only find some lyrics from Blue, to summarize, how I feel right now. "And we made a lot of sacrifice, Undid a lot of ties, Fought a lot of fights, To get where we are now, Just don't ask me how". It is never important to look back at where we have been, but to look forward at what we have yet to become. This thinking always brings out the best in me.

My job is not perfect, I am happy to admit, to anyone who may ask or care to listen for that matter. Yet it is the willingness to make an effort to be that catalyst for change, which keeps me going. My motivation? On my desk there is a photograph of my family, standing before the Taj Mahal. Need I say any more?

Last night was my first 'official' work outing with my division or should that be office family? You never know exactly how to play the game here. Once a few of your coworkers have tasted a drop of the amber nectar, they change. Most people just start talking to you more as their friend, rather than a manager, with some authority over you. Others tend to use the opportunity to melt into themselves and let the others do the talking. Role reversal, if you will. You discover that the quiet, focused individuals, suddenly have a life outside of work and tell you in detail their adventures rock climbing last September in Australia.

For as long as I can remember, I have taken great pride in meeting new and exciting people. Yet, in their professional guise, they lack that reality, that sense that they are actually one of us. Nights out like this, brings everyone down to same level and you enjoy each other company. You would not take it to the level that you are suddenly great friends with these people, that just would not work. Yet, you slowly come to the realisation of some home truths. I was trying to be clever and quite the final words of Tim, from the Office Christmas Special, 2003, but cannot find the exact words used. Anything less, will be criminal offence. Perhaps someone will be kind enough to add it as a comment and finish this posting as elegantly as I have started it.

I am one of the lucky ones, ladies and gentlemen. I have been blessed to be in full employment almost from the moment I left university, with only a total of fifty three days unemployment, which includes a three week search when I arrived home June last year. To this day, there are people with first class degrees from world class universities, still hunting for jobs, two sometimes three years after graduation. Pity those souls, for I lost my motivation within a few weeks. Life becomes a spiral and you slowly find yourself falling into a world of self pity and low, very low self esteem. That story, however, can wait for another day. For I am sure there are many more 'in between' job days to be clocked onto my speedometer. Plus, the experience of being made redundant, don't want to miss that off my 'to do' list! ;)

I Will Survive

So, I survived the four days on my own. To be honest, I was perhaps exaggerating the task and there was only one moment when I thought I could not cope. It was Tuesday afternoon, the phones were busy, I had several jobs to get done and could feel a headache coming on. Yet this was not the moment to pass out, this was the moment to prove myself. Slowly the heavy throbbing in my head subsided and I was able to come back and focus on work. Did I prove myself? Well I still feel that this was not the greatest of obstacles to be put ahead of me. I met the challenge, yet there is much more to come.

Without wanting to reveal too much, there have been a major background change to the other division of the company. Unexpected, the news took me by surprise, for at first it went against everything I thought the company I worked for, represented. While new to the industry, I am in the dark to the big hitters, but that is not to say, I feel a rash unconsidered decision has been made. While there is no noticeable change to operations, perhaps over time the climate will change. Having witness similar events for companies my Dad worked for, I do, on this occasion hold some hope. For once, this will be a change for the better, opening up a whole new group of opportunities. I will try my best to keep you posted on events, but do to the commercially sensitive nature of proceedings, I may have to keep my insight brief and hypothetical.

What do you think of recruitment agencies? Well, I expect your opinion will be on the whole negative and I tend to agree. Several have suddenly come out of the woodwork, so to speak. One, as recent as this week. Funny how they were silent, before Christmas when I was desperately hunting high and low for job. What suddenly makes them think that I will decide to jump into bed and take any of the positions they have to offer. While I am the first to admit my job is not perfect, there is nothing, right now that can take me away. Sure, there are days when I wish I was doing something more productive, challenging, less client facing and with greater responsibility but I have to appreciate where I am on the rung of the ladder. While the top looks far far away, looking down, I see a long way to the ground. Why would I leave a job after six months and start all over again? Why destroy all the progress you have made? My mind is set. Experience is crucial and I have more to gain here, than eyeing up some dream job in the City. As uncertain the future is, I have to focus on the present and what there is to gain, to achieve here.

All my life, people have asked me, Andrew what do you want to do? What do you want to become? In the years since I have left school, the answer to that question has become more vague and ambiguous. The honest answer is I do not know. I have always been an opportunitist and tried to make the most of the position that has landed in my lap. For example, back in the dizzy heights of 2002, when I was looking for a placement, I was offered a job I did not really want and was holding on for another job, while more suitable for me, never came through. Despondent, I was, yes. Though by the time July came around, I knew I had to take this challenge on and show those doubters wrong. The stage was set and my second big break came and went. Working in London for one of the biggest law firms in the world, was a dream come true. The reality that hit home, eventually, last June. At the height of Euro 2004, I came to discover the harsh truth of working in our capital. Inflated prices, expensive travel costs and long days. Looking back, I do not know how I coped for those five months and kept on smiling. Then again, even now, I do not know how I drove 600 miles a week during my placement year. Why the opportunity never bore fruition, the experience alone was a God send. Note to self, never contract again!